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MA

Leadership in Sport

The nature of the sports industry is rapidly changing and there is a far greater need than ever before for coordinators, development officers and managers in the sport, community, and physical activity spheres.

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Key Course Details

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Designed in close consultation with a range of industry partners

DESIGNED FOR

The programme is ideal for those working full-time in industry and focuses on leadership development to aid current and future leaders in the profession.

Career Paths

  • Development Officer
  • Leadership roles 
  • Regional Director Roles
  • Director of Coaching

Skills taught

  • Leadership
  • Effective Coaching
  • Research

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

A sport lecturer is pointing at a whiteboard and talking to to student. There are other students playing football in the background.
Two students working on a game strategy using a whiteboard.
A sports student leading a sports coaching session with a group of children.

Course Highlights

Placement opportunities

Offers a unique opportunity to complete a paid work-based learning program in the US in partnership with UK International Soccer and the potential to complete the FAW B Licence alongside your studies.

Outstanding facilities

A centre for strength and conditioning, a full-size indoor Fifa Pro standard 3G pitch, over 30 acres of playing fields, and more.

Industry Links

We have links with nearly 50 organisations in sport – many of whom support students with placements, research projects and mentoring.

Module Overview

The MA Leadership in Sport has been designed in close consultation with a range of industry partners to ensure that students see that they are getting value for money studying important modules necessary for their professional development.

  • Research Project 
  • Leading People in Sport 
  • Sport Business Principles 
  • Professional Work-Based Development 
  • The High Performance Environment (optional) 
  • Effective Coaching (optional) 
  • Enterprise and Innovation in Sport (optional) 
  • Strategic Leadership in Sport (optional) 
  • Curriculum Design and Contemporary Approaches to Player Development (optional) 
  • Pedagogy in Football (optional) 

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

There is a unique approach to course delivery via flexible delivery and inclusion of blended learning. The course will offer modules that will be delivered via residential block delivery and online content, to make the course more accessible to those who are working full-time in the industry. Residential block delivery style will adopt a more ‘workshop’ network approach to encourage learning from others across the group. 

The MA Leadership in Sport course is delivered via a range of different methods. These include: face-to-face lectures; tutorials; group discussions; networking; guest lectures; work-based learning; some modules delivered at USW and at various locations across South Wales; online study (via Blackboard, discussion groups, social media).

Teaching Staff

Tom Overton, Course Leader

Jay Probert

Rob Griffiths

Tony Wallis

Stephen Woodfine

Melanie Tuckwell

Grant Kalahar

Dr Lee Baldock

Placements

For students who are not currently working in the industry but studying this degree, the course will give them an excellent opportunity to work with a range of partners. For those who are already working in the industry, it is hoped that the course will offer additional networking opportunities and sharing of ideas via informal discussions, which can provide huge added benefits on top of their formal learning.

Work-based learning is embedded throughout the course with particular emphasis on the Professional Work Based Development module, where students will work with an employer for 140 hours. For students who are already working in the industry, this could either be with their existing employer or an alternative employer.

Facilities

You'll have access to a notational analysis suite and over 30 acres of playing fields, including five floodlit pitches. We have a sand-dressed 'astroturf' pitch, as well as a full-size FIFA approved 3G pitch. In addition to these all-weather pitches, there are six grass football pitches, three grass rugby pitches, and a large changing pavilion. Our facilities are regularly used by international professional teams, such as the Wales national football team and Cardiff City Football Club, as well as the touring New Zealand, South Africa and Australia rugby squads. This confirms the high quality of our pitches and the versatility of our equipment.

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

The need for relevant further education for sports professionals continues to increase given the highly competitive nature of the sport industry with hundreds applying for a handful of jobs. Current professionals and new applicants are therefore keen to gain a competitive edge over others for promotion, with postgraduate qualifications providing one such advantage.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

Entrance to the course normally requires an Honours degree classification of at least a 2:2 in a relevant subject, although related work experience, e.g. 3 years working in sports development, leisure management or coaching, can also be taken into account.

Additional requirements include:

  • An interview may be required.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

International Full-time Fee

£16,200

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.  

*Obligatory   

Students will have to fund the cost of travel to the residential elements of this course.

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

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Postgraduate fees and funding
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Pontypridd Campus, Glyntaff
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Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

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Next Steps

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